


500 Words You Should Know: 422. Rubenesque

by JackPhryne4eva



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: F/M, Nudity, Undressing, Wedding Fluff, Wedding Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-21
Updated: 2015-09-21
Packaged: 2018-04-22 17:24:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4843970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackPhryne4eva/pseuds/JackPhryne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dottie undresses on her wedding night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	500 Words You Should Know: 422. Rubenesque

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fire_Sign](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Sign/gifts).



Definition of RUBENESQUE  
: of, relating to, or suggestive of the painter Rubens or his works; especially : plump or rounded usually in a pleasing or attractive way   
  
  


Dot never felt quite at ease in the latest fashions. Her bosom too large, her hips not slim enough. And she’d never had the courage to bare her knees!

She never had the “It girl” qualities of Clara Bow ( _though she did love seeing the movie and admiring Antonio Moreno--sigh_ ). Boys, friends of her brothers, never paid her mind or even noticed when she was around. They noticed Nell, she knew, because she’d caught her with one or two them before. 

And then she started working for Miss Phryne.

Miss Phryne had the “It girl” qualities: men (and women) remembered her when she walked into a room. Or just walked down the street. She thought it was because of her House of Fleuri fashions, her slim figure.

Then Miss Phryne opened her eyes, yes, to the feel of silk underwear and soft fox furs, as well as justice and love and happiness and independence and bravery and confidence. 

On their outings ( _not always dangerous ones_ ), Miss Phryne took her and Jane to places like the National Gallery of Victoria. Miss Phryne wanted them to see the Margaret Preston exhibit. Though the still life paintings were pretty, Dot preferred the art of Peter Paul Rubens. She liked the religious scenes, the light, the color, the people. Though she would never say it aloud ( _the nudes made her blush_ ) she felt contented knowing that these Rubenesque ( _Miss Phryne had called them_ ) bodies, more like her own, were thought to be beautiful.

And Constable Hugh Collins thought she was beautiful.

*****

As she stood beside the bed to remove her veil, Hugh hesitated near the door watching her. With ever widening eyes, he followed her hands as she removed the delicate lace overlay then slipped the straps of her wedding gown off her shoulders. Stepping from the dress, she stood exposed to Hugh in her underclothes. ( _I can survive this. I survived kidnapping._ )

The blush spread across her cheeks matched his. ( _Blushing bride! What about the groom?_ ) 

When she moved to take off the next layer, her step-in chemise, she heard Hugh suck in a gulp of air. When her chemise joined her wedding dress, she turned to glance at Hugh.

And he nearly fainted at the sight of her bosom wrapped only in her bandeaux.

She next unfastened the suspenders of her stockings and sat in the chair nearest him. Raising up her foot to him she asked, “Would you please help me, Hugh?” ( _We’ll both die waiting for him to make the first move!_ ) and showed him how to carefully roll the stocking down her curvaceous leg. His shaking hands on her smooth skin sent a shiver of goose pimples up her unfashionably wide hips and over parts of her body that had never before been seen by a man ( _Breath, Dottie!_ ).

Standing again, now in bare feet, she turned her back to him. “Would you help me again, Hugh?” and indicated the back clasps of her bandeaux. When his rough hands touched her soft body, the goose pimples tingled down her back and arms and sparked a fire in her round tummy. Pulling off the garment, she exposed her nipples to the cool air. The final piece, her girdle, needed only moments to undo before her sex was uncovered. Then ( _as nude as the three Graces!_ ) she took a deep breath and turned to fully face him, her husband, Hugh Collins.

He was frozen in shock.

Gently, she took his hands and placed them on her ample waist. When she leaned up to kiss him, pressing her warm, curved body to his clothed one, he seemed to wake and pulled her close. Looking into her eyes, he murmured, “You’re so beautiful, Dottie.”

And she knew it was true.

**Author's Note:**

> I have agonized over this piece. I want Dottie to be confident and happy, yet I know ( _I know!_ ) that the first undressing is difficult when you are not body perfect. 
> 
> The Clara Bow movie _It_ came out in 1927.
> 
> In 1926, The National Gallery of Victoria was gifted an engraving of _The Three Graces_ by Peter Paul Rubens. Though it is currently not on display, I'd like to think they would have proudly shown off their new acquisitions in 1928-29.
> 
> The girdle in question is in the Met Museum collection and can be found  
> [here.](http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/109123?rpp=60&pg=5&ao=on&ft=*&deptids=8&when=A.D.+1900-present&what=Underwear&pos=267)  
> 


End file.
